MAY 1, 2013
AMAC: Attacks on our Constitutional rights grow bolder and more frequent
'Is it too much to require our lawmakers and public officials to reveal their positions as regards the Constitution before they are elected or appointed'
BOHEMIA, New York – "Threats to our Constitutional rights seem to be growing bolder and more frequent. This week the mayor of New York City called for changes that would give the government even more power to pry into our private lives; last week documents turned up showing the IRS was telling its agents to disregard the need for a warrant for personal email, text message and private social media messaging," according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
"Is it too much to require our lawmakers and public officials to reveal their positions as regards the Constitution before they are elected or appointed," Weber asked. "This is a vital piece of information that we, the voters, should have before we cast our ballots. The very future of the country depends on the preservation and protection of the rights and values established by our Founding Fathers in that document."
During a news conference Tuesday Mayor Bloomberg of New York said: "The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry. But we live in a complex world where you're going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change."
Weber described Bloomberg's comment as "an insidious, new high-level attack on our indisputable rights. Revisionist politicians have been growing daring in their efforts to undermine the Constitution and these ideologues must be called to account," he said.
The AMAC chief pointed out that "just last week it was discovered that the IRS was flaunting the Fourth Amendment by peeking at private electronic messages without first obtaining a warrant because, as the IRS Criminal Tax Division put it, 'internet users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communication'."
The revelation caused a firestorm of protests, including a sharply worded promise by Senator Mark Udall of Colorado. "I have serious concerns about the IRS's recent comments that it can search and seize citizens' emails, Facebook posts, tweets and other digital communications without a warrant," Udall said. "This is an affront not only to our system of checks and balances, but also to our fundamental right to privacy."
Weber pointed out that the attack on the First Amendment right to Freedom of Religion posed by the contraceptive/abortion mandate in Obamacare remains unresolved as is the effort to abridge our Second Amendment right to bear arms
